26 years for sexual assault, robbery of CTA employee

Man gets 26 years in robbery, sexual assault of CTA employee who was walking home from work

A South Side man pleaded guilty Monday and was sentenced to 26 years in prison for robbing and sexually assaulting a CTA employee on her way home from work, according to prosecutors and court records.

Devonte Willis, 21, pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual assault with a firearm in the Dec. 30, 2013, attack and was sentenced by Cook County Circuit Judge Vincent Gaughan, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

Willis was on probation for robbery when he assaulted the 24-year-old woman as she walked home from the 63rd Street Red Line stop about 5:40 a.m., prosecutors said at the time of his arrest.

The woman was walking east on 63rd Street when she passed Willis, who then reversed course and followed her, prosecutors said. Willis took out a small black handgun and told the woman to “give him everything she had,” according to the release.

The woman gave Willis her purse and cellphone, but he told her that wasn’t enough and asked her what she was willing to do to save her life, according to prosecutors. Willis began touching the woman, who started crying, and he forced her into a vacant lot, where he assaulted her at least twice behind a large container, prosecutors said.

Willis told the woman he knew where she lived and that she shouldn’t call police, then made off with $13 from her purse and her phone.

The woman ran home and called 911, then was taken to St. Bernard Hospital for treatment.

Police arrested Willis about four hours later near his home in the 6200 block of South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, according to his arrest report. When arrested, Willis had the woman’s cellphone and admitted he had robbed and assaulted the woman, prosecutors said.

At Willis’ apartment, police found a mask that the victim identified as having been used by her attacker. DNA evidence in the case also matched Willis, prosecutors said.

Willis pleaded guilty in April 2013 to aggravated robbery and was sentenced by Circuit Judge Thomas Davy to two years of probation with credit for 143 days served in jail, according to court records.